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Polly Scully-Crawshaw

email: [Contact David Hanauer for this e-mail address]

The Winter of 1958

Everyone has heard of the blizzard of 1888 but most Bucks County old timers recall the winter of 1958.

At the time I was living in Neshaminy Cliffs, a little enclave of cottages off Swamp Road 2 miles east of 232, and caring for my elderly grandfather, John Hooley. On Friday, February 14th the radio called for snow flurries so I decided to put off grocery shopping for a few days. It started to snow on Saturday morning and never stopped "flurrying" until late Monday. Mother came over Saturday and stayed. The last person into the community was my friend Roger who fought his way in around noon on Sunday. It had taken him almost 3 hours to make the normally 45 minute trip over from the Willow Grove Naval Air Station but since my birthday was Monday he wanted to see me. It's good that his Chief Petty Officer was snowed in just down the street.

By Tuesday morning supplies were getting low and nothing was moving. Roger and I put on ski suits and waded half a mile up Swamp Road to a dairy farm, now a riding stable, and bought several gallons of milk. We still had potatoes and onions on hand to make potato soup but eventually even the dog got tired of that.

Late Thursday afternoon Mr. Bellmeyer, a milk man for a local dairy, drove his truck across the fields to get to the "Cliffs", knowing that several senior citizen families were stranded. He couldn't get out of the field on the north side of Swamp Rd. so he loaded his baskets with cheese, eggs, butter and as much milk as he could carry and tramped in. He was welcomed with open arms and soon sold out. All the able bodied men in the community grabbed snow shovels, dug the truck out of the field and down to the road. With the truck leading and much shoveling the road was opened out to 232 which had been just plowed to a narrow single lane. Needless to say there was quite a run on Luff & Traubs General Store in Richboro. It would be several more days before the roads were passable to the Acme in Newtown.

We Later learned that a neighbor about 1/2 mile off 232 had given birth to a son early on Monday. The local Dr. had walked in from Penns Park for the delivery but the baby needed hospitalization. The blizzard like winds prevented a rescue helicopter from NAS Johnsville (Ivyland) from taking off and so a Sno-cat followed by an ambulance was sent across the undeveloped farmland from Willow Grove. Mother and son were safely delivered to the old hospital in Doylestown and both were fine. This was long before St. Mary's hospital was built in Newtown.

Everyone was glad to see the end of that storm but winter wasn't about to let go of it's grip on Bucks Co. just yet. On the first day of Spring a massive ice storm hit the area, bringing down trees and tying electric lines into knots. A good portion of middle and lower Bucks was without power for 5 days.

Down Swamp Road was a commercial Pheasant farm on what is now BCCC. The birds were kept in chicken wire pens that were flattened by the heavy ice. Some birds were killed but many escaped, much to the joy of the local pheasant hunters for several years.

The sun was warm enough to melt the ice within a day but the lack of power made for a lot of cold homes and hardship until it returned. Thank goodness we had a large fireplace and were able to sleep warmly in the living room and heat food in the fire too. Others weren't so lucky.

I think all Bucks County residents heaved a mighty sigh of relief when Spring finally came to stay in 1958.

-- July, 2007